When a motor vehicle is operated, a hazard situation can occur in which inappropriate behavior by a person in the vicinity of the motor vehicle can worsen damage that has already occurred, or can cause additional damage to occur. For example, if the motor vehicle has caught fire after a collision, and if the fire has resulted from a burst nickel-metal hydride battery, an attempt at extinguishing with water can spread the fire further or result in an explosion. A damaged lithium-ion battery into which only a small quantity of water penetrates can heat up considerably, thus creating the risk of a fire or deflagration. Water can react hazardously both with lithium and with fluorine that may be contained in the electrolyte of the lithium-ion battery.
While a hazardous materials placard is generally mounted on a commercial vehicle and can provide instructions as to appropriate behavior in an emergency situation, such marking is not at present being used on passenger vehicles. Given the large number of possible hazard situations, and the complex action instructions associated therewith, a static marking is also not necessarily expedient for a passenger vehicle. For example, the motor vehicle can get into a hazard situation that has resulted from a malfunction of a system of the motor vehicle, for example a steering failure. The hazard situation can also arise because it was necessary to stop, for example because another vehicle has experienced an accident.
In a hazard situation of this kind, human beings tend to experience shock and may make inappropriate decisions or perform inappropriate actions.
German Patent No. 20 2005 005 572 discloses an apparatus for a motor vehicle which outputs an instruction for performing first aid in the event of a traffic accident.
The object on which the invention is based is that of describing a system and method for improved provision of appropriate action instructions in the case of a hazard situation of a motor vehicle.